Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters. Tite Kubo does. I do own my OC Saika, though, so don't use him for anything without first asking me for permission. Thanks.
Author's Note: Just a short bit before we get into the chapter, because I forgot to put it at the end of the last one: Saika's demon's name, Oujiscuro, is a combination of the Japanese for 'Prince' (Ouji) and the Italian for 'Dark' (Scuro), which makes 'Dark Prince'.
Love Conquers All
Chapter 9: Let Loose the Hounds of War
Seireitei—The Night Before The Invasion
Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya knew his zanpakuto was powerful, but he'd never gotten a sense of just how much raw, untapped power Hyorinmaru held within him until now. The dragon had quite literally pulled him out of a rather pleasant dream into his Spirit World, and now Hyorinmaru was circling the skies above Toshiro anxiously, his entire body a mass of coiling, writhing power just begging to be unleashed.
"The winds are changing, young one," he said in his enigmatic growl, "and they carry the stench of Hell upon them."
Toshiro raised a white eyebrow at the spirit's cryptic words.
"Meaning…?"
Hyorinmaru stopped circling the skies and coiled himself like a spring, his red eyes piercing right through Hitsugaya's green ones.
"Meaning soon it will be time for me to reclaim my birthright, and for you to claim yours. The 'Heavenly Guardian' will rise once more…"
Toshiro woke up with a start, shaken by the power that had resonated in Hyorinmaru's voice. 'Heavenly Guardian'? Hitsugaya had heard that phrase only one other time, during his short duel with Gin Ichimaru all those years ago. Surely he wasn't being literal, was he…?
Too wired to go back to sleep, the Tenth Division Captain swung his legs over the side of his bed and got up, heading outside. His head swimming with an overload of thoughts as he walked briskly through the Captain's District, Hitsugaya barely had time to register the person meditating in front of him before he tripped over them, tumbling to the ground with a thud. Rising hastily to his feet, Toshiro was about to berate whoever had possessed the gall to trip him when he saw that it was none other than Captain Byakuya Kuchiki.
"Captain Kuchiki…" the young Captain said with more than a little trepidation, too frazzled to deal with a perturbed Senbonzakura. Byakuya looked over at his comrade placidly and shrugged with his eyes.
"Be at ease, Captain Hitsugaya," he said, his voice more strained than Toshiro had remembered hearing it in a long time.
"If anyone should be apologizing, it is I."
"Don't worry about it," Toshiro replied with a little too much eagerness in his voice, happy to have avoided a confrontation. But then his thoughts were focused on something else entirely, something even more unnerving than Byakuya Kuchiki's behavior.
What was wrong with him? Since when was the Captain of Tenth Division so skittish? Was he losing it or something? In an effort to shift the unspoken focus off of himself, Hitsugaya addressed the Sixth Division Captain.
"What brings you outside at this hour, Captain, if I may ask?"
Byakuya shifted his gaze to a different point on the horizon, folding his hands in his lap calmly.
"I am awaiting Rukia's return," he said simply, before falling silent and moving his right hand gently along Senbonzakura's hilt, as if seeking some form of solace from his blade. Toshiro, seeing that whatever conversation he'd had with Kuchiki was over, bowed to take his leave and walked away, surprised. That was as emotional as he'd ever seen Byakuya, and the white-haired captain wondered absently if everyone was feeling on edge tonight.
Apparently, the answer to that question was a resounding 'yes'. Seireitei was abuzz with nervous activity, from the frantic scrawl of pen over paper to the jerky movements of sword exercises. Something was in the air, all right, and it made Toshiro's skin crawl. As he was walking by Momo's quarters, he heard the unnerving sound of his best friend twisting and whimpering in her sleep, clearly having a nightmare. Immediately putting on his 'concerned' face, the Captain tiptoed quietly into his friend's room, trying to see what was wrong. It was then that he saw she had a defined blush on her face, and what he thought was a frown on her face was, in fact, a tense smile.
This wasn't a nightmare; Toshiro didn't need to be a genius to figure out what was going on.
Awkward…
Quickly spinning on his heels, Hitsugaya struggled to fight down a blush and shuffled hastily towards the door. Right as he was about to walk away, though, a single word stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Shiro-chan…"
It had been Momo, and she was still asleep.
Thunderstruck, the white-haired captain didn't know quite what to do with that statement, so he shoved it in the back of his mind. As he walked away, though, the blush surged onto his cheeks, accompanied by a distinctly satisfied smirk.
Even if tomorrow brought untold chaos, Toshiro would still have this memory to carry him safely through the turbulent night.
Underworld—Present Day
"Nothing higher than a fledgling?" Grimmjow spat, disappointed. "And here I thought this was going to be a challenge!"
Saika tightened his grip on his sword, synching the two halves of his soul in case he had to rely on his shikai.
"You'll get more than enough carnage once we're in Soul Society, Captain," Aron told the former Sixth Espada. "For now, just shut up and take out the trash."
Grimmjow smiled viciously as he was given the full license to kill.
"Yes sir, General," he said, the three of them slipping back into their military habits.
Ulquiorra and Saika hung back, giving their fellow warrior a chance to bust some heads. Jaegerjaques lived for combat, and if he went too long without crossing blades with someone, the result was usually ugly. Grimmjow started out striking with his bare hands, refusing to draw his sword unless his opponent's blood was worthy of decorating it. As more and more gore splattered on the ground, Grimmjow's laugh became stronger and stronger until it was almost as if he'd regressed into his panther form without releasing his zanpakuto. Demon after demon fell before the blue-haired brawler, and the two other warriors thought that just maybe, just this once, fate had thrown them a bone.
How very wrong they were.
Saika sensed the reiatsu first, and his eyes shot wide open in a rare expression of fear.
"Shit! Grimmjow, heads up! It's Monjira!"
Jaegerjaques was only a step behind his General, turning around and drawing his zanpakuto in a single motion while bracing himself for the monstrous impact. He wasn't disappointed, as the massive Cerberus-Hydra hybrid came crashing down a few second later. Pantera growled audibly under the strain as it kept one of the monster's ravenous jaws from feasting on its master, and Grimmjow knew that if he didn't get some backup soon, he was all kinds of screwed.
"Such a delicious reiatsu… I've been looking forward to this since our skirmish at Ratunae. Don't let me down, mongrel."
"I've had it with you gorging yourself on my men, bitch," Saika seethed as he forced the ravenous monster back with a focused blast of reiatsu. "I should have put you down ages ago."
Monjira bared all of her fangs simultaneously and roared, rearing up on her hind legs before lunging forward and striking with all nine heads at once.
"Butcher, Carnifice."
Back in his days as an Espada, the mere threat of Ulquiorra's released state would have been enough to make Nnoitra Jiruga shake like a leaf. Now, bolstered by the experience of countless battles and strengthened by the demonic energies he had absorbed during his time in Hell, Schiffer's resurreccion was considered a force to be reckoned with by the upper echelon of demons.
His broken helmet fragment regenerated itself into a full-on samurai helmet, complete with a faceplate covering everything except his eyes. The transformation didn't stop there, as the bone-like armor spread to cover the rest of its master in a complete suit of classical samurai armor fit for a noble, which then changed color from grayish-white to the blackest obsidian. The release of so much power also allowed Ulquiorra to grow several inches, no longer held in check by having to seal his own immense spiritual pressure. This served the double purpose of both giving his strikes greater force and letting him wield his sword with greater ease, which had also grown, up to the length of a nodachi. Grimmjow, after seeing that his comrade had seen fit to release his ultimate power, quickly followed suit so that he wasn't left behind.
"Grind, Pantera!"
Saika, once his head had stopped pounding in the face of so much furious reiatsu, saw no reason not to unleash his new powers and teach this abomination a new definition of torment.
"Rise, Oujiscuro!"
By the time Monjira could see straight through the hurricane of reiatsu, she was down from nine heads to four. Howling in pain and rage, the Greater Demon knew that this had shifted from a sure victory to a true, desperate fight to the death. Taking a calculated risk, Monjira split her attention in half and started blasting demonic energy out of two head like crazy, while the other two burrowed into the ground.
Saika, who had seen Monjira pull hit-and-runs on his soldiers more times than he would like to admit, knew what was coming.
"Ulquiorra," he shouted, "cut those two heads that are underground off and vaporize them!"
"Too late, you worms!" Monjira cackled, and the three warriors saw with horror that all of the corpses, and Monjira's severed heads, had been pulled through the ground and up into the Greater Demon, the two submerged heads acting like super-powered straws. A few seconds later Monjira's maimed body pulsed with black reiatsu, and when the interference cleared, the three warriors found themselves staring down a fully-healed—and absolutely furious—Greater Demon. But far from quivering in fear, Saika got a homicidal grin on his face that would have made Zaraki proud, his fangs glinting murderously.
"This enough of a challenge for you, Captain Jaegerjaques?"
Grimmjow grinned in kind.
"Absolutely, sir."
Saika looked to his left.
"You ready, Captain Schiffer?"
Ulquiorra nodded, gripping his sword tighter.
"All right, then," the demon prince growled. "Let's end this!"
Grimmjow was hesitant to unleash his Desgarron for fear of collateral damage, so he softened up his targets with quick slashed first, before severing the two heads with his elbow darts and incinerating them in a pulse of reiatsu.
Two down, seven to go.
Ulquiorra was a much more patient fighter than his fellow former Espada, preferring to observe extensively before striking. Holding back on his sonido to bait his prey into striking first, the green-eyed Espada waited until the two heads tried to grab him in a pincer before leaping nimbly up onto the neck of one of the appendages. The appendage he was occupying couldn't attack, and the other one was too afraid of hitting itself to attack. With the main head distracted fighting Saika, no orders were issued to the confused appendage. This gave Ulquiorra all the time in the world to charge up a cero and let it fly, the sheer power behind it enough to both sever and incinerate the enemy.
"Pathetic," the obsidian-clad warrior scoffed, shifting his blade so that it was pointing to the ground before bringing it down with impunity, striking deep into the enemy beneath him. The blow was not fatal, however, and a perturbed Ulquiorra now found himself flying through the air as the appendage threw him off of his perch, thrashing about in pain. Schiffer braced himself on a cliff and caught his break before launching back towards his enemy, simmering with focused fury at the notion of being unseated by such garbage. Gripping Carnefice with both hands, he swung it before him in a perfectly measured arc.
"Mezzaluna."
A crescent-shaped blade of crimson demonic energy leapt from the sword, hurtling towards its target before cutting through it halfway, stopping, and exploding. Ulquiorra landed in a perfect crouch, straightened up and brushed a bit of dust off his shoulder.
Four down, five to go.
Mojira wasn't an idiot; she knew that Saika held the most power out of her three enemies, and so she focused the brunt of her attack on him. Five head's worth, to be exact.
"What're you waiting for, little one?" She sneered. "Don't you want to join your men?"
Aron knew he was being baited, but it took everything he had not to rise to it.
"I promised every one of them I'd take revenge on you," Saika said evenly, readying his blade, "and I don't take my promises lightly."
Mojira snarled and lunged.
"I'd like to see you try, whelp!"
The orange-eyed prince channeled every ounce of reiatsu he could into his blade and swung, obliterating one of the appendages entirely. Even though Oujiscuro all but howled in victory, Saika couldn't shake the feeling that something still wasn't quite right with him. Sure, he'd reclaimed a portion of his soul, but the two halves were like yin and yang, rather than a single, homogeneous whole.
A shrill scream jolted the prince out of his thoughts and he raised Oujiscuro up on instinct, barely blocking a lunge from one of Mojira's heads.
Pay attention, brother! Oujiscuro hissed inside Saika's head, and Aron knew that he couldn't drift off like that again if he wanted to keep all of his limbs.
"Getting' sloppy there, boss," Grimmjow taunted snidely as he slashed off the head that had been going for Saika, leaving three still standing.
"Shut up, Grimmjow," Aron growled as his two captains took up their positions flanking him.
"And… thanks for the save."
Jaegerjaques smirked, knowing his boss was in his debt now. That would be interesting.
"Don't mention it."
"Let's end this quickly," Ulquiorra added sternly, shifting his stance to leave one hand free for cero. "We have somewhere to be, remember?"
Saika took Oujiscuro in both hands, letting his reiatsu flow freely. He tried one last time to get the two parts of his soul to meld together, but they kept swirling around each other like magnets.
Slow down, brother, he heard Oujiscuro shout urgently. It feels like you're trying to rip my arms out of their sockets!
Aron relaxed, grimacing as he felt the aftershock of his actions. Mojira saw the preoccupied look on his face and lunged, going right for the jugular. As he felt the enemy rushing towards him, Saika's reiatsu spiked in an act of primal self-preservation.
Looking around after the initial shock had worn off, the prince noticed that time around him had slowed down to an absolute crawl. At first he thought that it was his 'zanpakuto's special ability, but after a few moments passed and nothing else happened Saika came to a realization, a huge grin on his face.
Time wasn't slowed down, he was just moving so fast that it felt like it was. Readying his sword, Saika hoped his ears could withstand sonic booms.
Outside of the reiatsu field, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were wondering why their commander was just standing there, stock-still, and Mojira was still reeling from the force of the unexpected blast. Then, before the former Espada even knew what was going on, a loud crack shot through the air and Saika appeared behind Mojira, still standing up straight. But the image of him standing near the two stunned warriors was still there. Ten more cracks sounded off in deafening succession, and each time an afterimage was left behind as clear as the original Saika.
"Holy shit…" Grimmjow said in awe as the images vanished and Mojira practically exploded from the force of so many strikes in so short a timeframe.
"Not even Zommari Leroux could move that fast…" Ulquiorra added, still getting over the force of the reiatsu released during the barrage of attacks as Saika limped over to them.
"How're you two holding up?" He asked, stopping and leaning on his sword, the blade of which was covered completely in red. Grimmjow eyed his master warily.
"I think we should be the ones asking that question, boss," he said with as much concern as he could without Hell freezing over around them. "What the fuck was that?"
"Survival instinct, I guess," Aron offered, shrugging weakly before he slipped and crashed to the ground.
"Are you all right, Aron-sama?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," the prince said tiredly, "I think I'm just gonna pass out right now."
"But…" Grimmjow began to protest, before loud snores started to come up from the prone form below them.
"Damn it," Jaegerjaques cursed as he resealed Pantera. "What're we going to do until he wakes up?"
Ulquiorra resealed Carnifice and sighed, refocusing, before his head snapped up again and his eyes narrowed.
"We've got some company," he said, right as a pack of Alpha Cerberi appeared, their ravenous three-headed forms drooling with hunger. Grimmjow drew his sword with one hand and readied a cero with the other, smirking.
"Yeah," he said, "this should kill some time."
Seireitei—The Morning Of The Invasion
Toshiro Hitsugaya woke up to a smell that he hadn't experienced in a long, long time.
Smoke. Acrid smoke.
Something was burning down.
The Captain bolted out of bed and looked around frantically, but nothing was on fire.
But then where'd that smell come from?
Pacing nervously down the walkway, Toshiro tried to seek out the source of the phantom flame and found nothing. As if to openly mock him, a fresh tendril of smoke slipped up into his nostril. But the scent of this one was nothing like the oak smell that had come before it.
This one smelled like burning flesh.
Hitsugaya recoiled physically, taking a few jerky steps back and coughing. The grotesque smell had caught him completely off guard, and the only thing that stopped him from stumbling and falling was Hyorinmaru's voice echoing in his head, as powerful as it had ever been before.
Calm yourself, Toshiro. There is nothing to be afraid of.
'Nothing to be afraid of?' Hitsugaya thought back. 'Are you serious? Someone's dying in a fire somewhere!'
That family is already dead, Hyorinmaru replied with a chilling level of detachment, and there was nothing you could do to save them. But now is not the time for your soul to be in chaos; join me on my plane, and I will explain what is happening within you.
The Tenth Squad Captain wasn't at all comfortable with the way Hyorinmaru had finished his thought, but he couldn't say no to his zanpakuto. Sitting down cross-legged with a sigh, Hitsugaya rested his sword across his knees and closed his eyes, reaching deep within himself.
As his eyes opened, Toshiro surveyed his icy Spirit World warily. Something big was going on, and for some reason Hyorinmaru was hiding the truth from him.
"You have felt the changes begin; am I correct?"
Hitsugaya turned around, staring down the gargantuan ice dragon.
"Stop being cryptic and tell me just what the hell is going on here!"
Hyorinmaru rippled in annoyance, but replied all the same.
"Do you know what I am, Toshiro Hitsugaya?"
Toshiro didn't know quite how to respond to a question like that, so he kept his mouth shut and waited for his zapakuto's spirit to continue.
"When Gin Ichimaru said that you were the embodiment of a Heavenly Guardian, he was not being entirely facetious. I think this will begin to make more sense to you once I tell you that I was not always a zanpakuto."
Toshiro wasn't under the impression that zanpakuto, physical manifestations of their owner's souls, could be anything other than what they were.
"How is that possible?"
Hyorinmaru was going to reply when he shifted his head towards the horizon, sniffing the air curiously. When he recognized the scent, his eyes narrowed.
"There are more of them than even I first thought, Toshiro," he said. "Since our time here is short, I will get right to the point. When I was first born, it was not in Soul Society at all. Rather, it was in the ethereal dimension that acts as a counterpoint to Hell, the other anchor that holds all of the other worlds together. The Empyrean. I was born to be a weapon, one that the archangels could wield in combat against their demonic foes. I excelled in this role for some time, but all good things must come to an end.
"My master was struck down in battle and killed by a Demon Lord known as Mortos. I fought fiercely to avenge his death, but in the end I could not overcome Mortos on my own. As a final act of malice, Mortos sealed me into a demonic blade and sent me to Soul Society, hoping, I'd imagine, that the influence of the evil blade would corrupt me completely. But I managed to subdue the evil spirit, turning the blade into a pure vessel for my own energies."
"Let me guess," Hitsugaya cut him off, beginning to piece the rest of the tale together in his head. "Someone found you, and you became their zanpakuto as a way of keeping up your skills until you ran into Mortos again."
Hyorinmaru smiled, if such a terrifying array of fangs could be arranged into a smile.
"Quite right, Captain Hitsugaya."
"But when he died, where did you go? You couldn't have disappeared with him, because you weren't fully a part of his soul."
"Correct. I allowed myself to dissipate into the atmosphere of Soul Society, to rest and wait for one whom was worthy of wielding my power, of being my avatar. I went through two other warriors before I decided to change approaches. Realizing that one of the reasons zanpakuto were so powerful was because of the bond they had forged with their wielder from the moment he or she had been born, I chose to wait once more until the person came along who had the necessary strength to fight with me, and then I bonded to their fledgling soul at the moment of conception and waited for the right time to emerge."
Hitsugaya's eyes widened in understanding.
"That person… it was me."
Hyorinmaru flashed another satisfied look.
"Indeed. You, Toshiro Hitsugaya, are the rightful heir to my power. The full extent of my strength, and thus your strength, could not be unsealed until demons roamed the land once again, and they have come for us all now."
The Tenth Division Captain nodded grimly at that, feeling a renewed sense of purpose flow through him, but there was one last question he needed answered.
"But if you're not really a zanpakuto, and you're really some kind of heavenly weapon that just chose to bond with my soul, what does that make me?"
Hyorinmaru grinned with his eyes, shining like rubies.
"Unique. But enough of this prattle, we have work to do. Toshiro Hitsugaya," he said seriously, "are you willing to bear the burden of my full power, to become my avatar incarnate and strike down this plague of foul demons who threaten all of Soul Society?"
Toshiro thought about it for all of a second, and nodded.
"Yes. Hyorinmaru, lend me your strength!"
The dragon roared, and his eyes changed from bright red to a brilliant, deep sapphire blue. The Captain found himself surrounded by an aura of the same color, his pupils dilating wide under the sheer strength of the reiatsu he was absorbing. When the process had finished, Hitsugaya blinked and found himself back in Soul Society. For a moment he didn't believe that any of what he had just experienced had actually happened, until he took a step forward and stopped dead in his tracks.
He could feel the reiatsu around him as clearly as his own, spectral spirit threads floating in front of his eyes. The Soul Reaper ones were red, as usual, but there were a few fiery-orange ribbons interspersed among them.
That is the color of manifested demonic reiatsu, Toshiro, Hyorinmaru hissed in his head. You must find the sources of these ribbons and destroy them. They are normally cloaked completely from Soul Reapers, but you now have the power to sense them.
Hitsugaya grabbed one of the fiery ribbons and felt a spike in his adrenaline as the demonic reiatsu clashed with his own. Feeling the will to fight surging through him, Toshiro realized that he felt more complete now than he ever had before. He had a new purpose now, something that seemed as right and natural as breathing.
This was what he had been born for.
"Why aren't they doing anything?" Renji asked frantically as the two friends raced towards Seireitei, which was shockingly still considering there was an army about to be at their gates.
"I think there's something hiding their reiatsu!" Ichigo replied, glancing down at Rukia and noticing with relief that she was still breathing.
"Maybe so, but then why can we see them?"
"Exposure, I'd guess. Anyway, we don't have time to read too far into this. You go wake up Byakuya and raise the alarm; I'll get Rukia to Captain Unohana."
Renji was hesitant to leave his friend's side with her in such condition, but he saw the wisdom in Ichigo's words and nodded, vanishing. The orange-haired Soul Reaper was about to flash-step as well when movement in his arms caused him to stop. Looking down, he saw that Rukia's eyes were open and she was awake, her bleeding slowed down to almost nothing. She looked around for a moment, confused, before her vision cleared and she jumped up, knocking Ichigo under the chin and causing him to drop her to the ground.
"Ow! What was that for, Rukia?"
The dark-haired Soul Reaper got to her feet and shook the dust off of the grey kimono Arina had given her in Hell, glancing around hastily.
"Where am I?" She asked, clearly confused. Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at that, but figured that he would have been frazzled, too, if he'd been abducted to Hell and then rescued after being stabbed through the chest with his own zanpakuto.
"We're in Soul Society, Rukia. I'm taking you to the Fourth Division to get your wound looked at."
Rukia looked over at Ichigo with a start, as if she was just noticing that he was there for the first time. Then the confusion slowly drained from her eyes to be replaced by recognition, and she cried out in disbelief and joy at seeing her loved one in front of her, safe and sound.
"Ichigo!" she said, running over and throwing her arms around him. "It really is you!"
"Yeah, it is," he said with quiet satisfaction, returning the embrace and staying that way for a few precious moments before he remembered that Rukia was gravely injured. Backing away, his gaze turned to her stomach, concerned. Kuchiki raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why Ichigo was so preoccupied with her stomach all of a sudden.
"What's wrong, Ichigo?"
The orange-haired Soul Reaper looked at Rukia like she's just sprouted wings.
"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'? You got stabbed through the chest!"
"I did?" Rukia asked, looking down at her stomach and undoing some of the wrappings below her kimono to get a better look at the area Ichigo was so focused on. It didn't escape her notice that Ichigo didn't avert his gaze like he usually did, and Rukia smiled to herself before appraising her skin. When her fingers ran over the still-fading scar left by the sword at her side, the rush of memories crashed over Rukia and her eyes rolled back in her head as she fainted, shaking. Ichigo caught her before she hit the ground, waiting until Rukia had finished riding the jagged wave of memories. When her spasms had finished, she got to her feet and looked out into the horizon worriedly.
"We have to warn them, Ichigo," she said. "For all we know, Callos' army has already breached the Seireitei!"
"Relax, Rukia," Ichigo insisted, not wanting Rukia to do so much so quickly. "I told Renji to go warn Byakuya, so they'll have time to mount a defense. Right now, we need to get you to the Fourth Division."
"No! We have to go help them, Ichigo. I can make it, trust me," she pleaded. "My reiatsu healed the wound while we were traveling, so don't even try to pull the 'But Rukia, you're so injured' card or I'll smack you," she added more forcefully when she saw Ichigo open his mouth to speak. He shut up, then smirked.
"I'm not going to be able to convince you not to go, huh?"
Rukia smiled victoriously.
"Nope."
Ichigo sighed.
"Midget, I love you, but you're going to be the death of me."
Rukia was about to say something when she realized what Ichigo had just told her and her eyes went as wide as saucers.
"Wait; what did you just say, Ichigo?"
The orange-haired Soul Reaper became suddenly and agonizingly aware of what he had just let slip through his teeth and he looked at his feet, blushing furiously. Rukia gave a beaming smile and wanted to make Ichigo squirm for a bit, but they didn't have time for that. Flash-stepping forward so that her face was no more than an inch from his, the dark-haired Soul Reaper tilted her head up and kissed him.
Ichigo was caught completely off-guard, going from embarrassed to elated so quickly he didn't know how to react. Lost in an emotional haze, he just let himself go and ran with it. Wrapping one arm around her waist and nestling his other hand in her hair, Ichigo lifted her up to eye-level and returned the favor, pouring all of his bottled-up passion into the kiss. Rukia's eyes widened and then became half-lidded as she let out a stifled moan while Ichigo smirked mentally. While her mouth was open, Ichigo slipped his tongue in and his mental smirk grew even wider as he saw Rukia go rigid with shock. Determined to be on the winning side by the time this was over, Rukia mimicked Ichigo's action with even more force while she wrapped her legs around his waist, putting the orange-haired Soul Reaper back on his heels.
'Damn, she's good at this,' he thought with a bit of fear and a lot of anticipation. If they could survive this war, he was in for some very nice years to come.
The thought of the war, though, shoved Ichigo unceremoniously off of Cloud Nine and sent him hurtling down back to painful reality. Breaking out of the embrace, he took satisfaction in Rukia's disappointed mewl before becoming serious once more.
"Rukia, we have to go. Renji and Bykuya are probably waiting on us, if they haven't already started raising the alarm."
As much as Rukia wanted to stay this way until the sun went down, she agreed with Ichigo and untangled herself, turning her back to him and taking a step before changing her mind and giving him one last light kiss.
"I love you, too," she breathed as they parted, and Ichigo rewarded her words with a brilliant, genuine smile.
"Let's go," he said, ignoring the excited shiver racing up his spine as the two of them vanished.
Mortos walked calmly towards the chamber that had housed Saika, a cryptic smile on his face. When he saw that his son was gone and the only trace left were four piles of ash on the ground, his smile widened.
"Clearly, I had been looking for an heir in the wrong place this whole time," he mused, noting with satisfaction the demonic reiatsu still hanging in the air, "but that mistake is about to be corrected. I don't think I'll tell Callos that his brother is alive and coming for him… let's see how that brat handles his last stand."
Turning around and leaving the chamber, Mortos flash-stepped to his private chambers and sat on his throne, content for the first time in ages.
"Make me proud, Saika, my son."
Renji dashed towards the Seireitei like a man possessed, careful not to stray to close to the advancing legions. He had to tell Captain Kuchiki what was about to happen, and soon, or everyone was going to be in deep shit in a few hours. Looking over to his left one last time before making the final bolt to the Gates, Renji saw with surprise that the advancing demons had… stopped?
The army had ground to a complete halt several hundred yards from the actual walls of the Seireitei, staying just out of sight of the Gate guards and still cloaking their reiatsu. In short, they were completely invisible and still well within striking distance. Why were they stopping?
They must have some sort of battle-plan, Renji thought as he increased his pace and bolted for the nearest Gate. I have to get to Captain Kuchiki right away!
"Why are we halting the troops so close to our goal, Lord Callos? They are still completely unaware of our presence!"
Callos looked off into the distance intently, a nagging feeling in the back of his head that something was very, very wrong. Suddenly a surge of reiatsu hit him like a brick wall and Callos' eyes widened in fear. He had felt that reiatsu once before, many, many moons ago as he watched his father duel with…
"Lord Hyorinmaru…" Callos said in disbelief, shuddering despite himself before reining his emotions in and assessing the situation like the General he was.
"An unexpected threat has just emerged, Captain," he said without a hint of fear in his voice, "and I have stopped our advance until it is dealt with. I will go and engage that beast myself, while the Horsemen will stay and watch over the troops in my absence. If anyone comes too close to us, eradicate them on sight. Otherwise, do not move unless I explicitly order you to do so. Is that understood?"
The captain nodded firmly, saluting.
"Of course, Lord Callos. I shall relay your orders at once."
"You do that, Captain," the prince said with barely-veiled contempt as he flashed away to track down Hyorinmaru.
What is he even doing here? No matter, after I kill him and bring his husk back to my father, he will finally recognize my worth! Hyorinmaru, your head is mine!
Saika sat up slowly, stretching out his back and yawning.
"So, what'd I miss?" he asked drowsily, before looking around at the scene of carnage before him, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow both breathing harder than normal amidst a field of corpses.
"Oh."
"With all due respect, Aron-sama," Schiffer said with the lightest hint of anger in his voice, "the next time you decide to hibernate, please do so somewhere other than a Cerberus den."
"We've been killing these things for the past two fucking hours!" Grimmjow shouted, choosing the less-subtle approach.
Saika got to his feet and shook himself fully awake, the foul stench of so much death making sure he didn't drift back to sleep.
"My apologies, guys," he said. "Man, it smells like shit here. Let's go; it's been too long since I really cut loose and I'm spoiling for a fight."
Grimmjow flashed a bloodlust-driven grin.
"Amen to that," he said as Aron cut a rift open in front of him with Oujiscuro, stepping through it and into the Human World as his two soldiers followed behind him, Ulquiorra closing up the portal for good. Repeating the action once more, the three warriors found themselves running for dear life away from a Cleaner before diving through the other side of the gate, landing in a tangled mess on a grassy hill several miles from the Seireitei.
"I…hate you… so much…" Grimmjow growled at Saika, straining to separate himself from his boss and his fellow former Espada.
"Just shut up for a second, Grimmjow," Saika replied, "I think I almost have it. Right… there!"
The three compatriots separated all at once and stood up, about to start arguing about Saika's method of travel when they sensed the massive presence of Callos' army. Walking to the edge of the hill, the three of them took in the giant host of demons with no small amount of worry.
"Damn, he wasn't messing around," Grimmjow said, not thinking that the coward had it in him to be so aggressive.
"He even brought the Horsemen with him," Ulquiorra noticed, feeling a rare spark of fear as he imagined the four of them unchained and wreaking absolute havoc. Saika was focused on tracking down his brother's reiatsu and found it, but when he sensed what else was nearby he smiled viciously.
"Well, well," he said, "it looks like an old friend of ours has finally decided to get off his ass and show up. Callos is going to be tied up for a while, so we should hurry to the Seireitei and reinforce their ranks for when the real battle starts up. Come on."
The trio vanished, making for the walled city as fast as they could and hoping that none of the demons would get restless enough to start a premature attack.
Hitsugaya was racing towards the ranks of demons with unearthly speed, his normally green eyes shining blue under Hyorinmaru's influence. When a particularly strong burst of reiatsu appeared directly behind him, though, the warrior turned around to face his new threat and smiled.
"Callos, son of Mortos," Toshiro said in a voice that was deep, powerful and not entirely his own.
"We meet again."
The prince did not give up any ground in the face of his enemy, but his knees shook ever so slightly as he felt the force of the reiatsu Hyorinmaru was exuding. Whoever the dragon's new host was, his raw spiritual power was quite impressive. That strength, on top of Hyorinmaru's own power, made this foe quite deadly indeed. Gathering himself up, he readied himself for combat and spoke.
"Well met indeed, Lord Hyorinmaru," Callos sneered, "although I must say I have no interest in fighting children."
"Watch your tongue, demon," Toshiro/Hyorinmaru said in a voice that sounded much more like the pissed-off Captain of the Tenth Division. "If you call me a kid one more time, I swear I'll cut you up into a thousand tiny pieces!"
Callos smiled wickedly. If he could get far enough under his opponent's skin, this battle would be over quickly. Drawing his sword, the prince let his reiatsu rise to full strength as the ground around him trembled.
"Let's go, little dragon," he taunted, charging.
"You're dead, demon scum!" Hyorinmaru/Toshiro bellowed, eyes blazing as dark blue reiatsu flared around him and he lunged, crossing swords with his opponent as the clashing reiatsu exploded in their fury. After a moment spent in a deadlock, the two combatants disappeared entirely, reappearing only for moments at a time to strike and then move again, explosions of reiatsu marking each blow.
"Come on, you're better than this!" Callos shouted, reveling in the bloodlust and power that was coursing through him. "Show me your true power, Dragon of the Empyrean!"
"You wish to see our true power?" Hyorinmaru asked dangerously, speaking through Toshiro. "Very well, then. Bankai!"
It looked like Toshiro's normal bankai at first, but a headpiece covered his eyes that looked like the upper part of a dragon's face, leaving only his mouth exposed. The spike in his reiatsu was astonishing, and Callos took a few steps back under the pressure while Hyorinmaru/Hitsugaya laughed spitefully.
"You asked to see this, demon. Don't tell us you're regretting your decision now, you coward?"
Callos bristled at being called a coward, and let his reiatsu rise even higher in his rage.
"No one calls me a coward and lives, you overgrown lizard. Prepare to feel my wrath!"
Toshiro/Hyorinmaru just laughed in the face of the threat as an orb of white energy began to gather in front of his head, pulsing and growing larger by the moment. When it was big enough the dragon roared, solidifying the energy into a huge spike of ice and sending it flying right at Callos' chest. The prince dodged the fatal blow for the most part, but the attack ripped his shoulder tendons on his right arm. The appendage hung limp and useless, blood gushing freely from the wound.
"Impressive," Toshiro/Hyorinmaru growled, the Captain's voice coming through as the dominant one. "Most would not have been able to dodge that strike at all. It seems your talent for running away can be put to other uses as well," he finished with a smirk.
"Go to hell, you bastard!"
Hitsugaya/Hyorinmaru gripped his sword in both hands, readying it for a strike and then charging.
"You first!" He shouted as the strikes were delivered, a blast of white light exploding out in the aftermath.
The Captain of Callos' legion hesitated in delivering his Lord's final orders, simmering in anger. They should be pounding down the gate and charging into the Seireitei, damn it, not sitting out here like cowards waiting for their enemies to find out they were there. What was the point of having the element of surprise if you didn't do anything with it? The Captain called over his lieutenant, who was by his side in an instant.
"Yes, Captain Tarsin, sir?"
"I want you to muster the legion, and prepare it for an assault on the nearest Gate into the Seireitei."
The soldier's eyes went wide.
"But… didn't I hear Lord Callos tell you not to move the legion unless he ordered you to?"
Tarsin frowned; he was hoping he wouldn't have to coerce his own subordinates.
"You don't see Lord Callos here, do you?" he asked, his voice laced with venom. The lieutenant shook his head negatively, shaking slightly. Tarsin smirked in victory.
"Of course you don't. Which makes me acting commander of the legion, and gives me the power to execute you on the grounds of treason if you disobey a direct order. So what's it gonna be, my friend? Are you going to muster the troops like I told you to?'
The soldier nodded frantically, flashing away. Tarsin's smirk grew into a smile.
"Good boy."
"Captain Kuchiki! Captain, wake up!" Renji shouted as he burst through the door, huffing and puffing. The Captain of Sixth Division looked over from his chair and locked eyes with his lieutenant, clearly perturbed at his sudden entrance.
"I was never asleep, Renji," he said evenly, the dark circles under his eyes not reflected at all in his tone. "What do you want?"
"Werescuedrukiabutnowtheresanarmyrightoutsideofthewallsanditsabouttoattack!"
Byakuya's only reaction to his lieutenant's tirade was a meticulously-raised eyebrow.
"What was that?"
Renji took a deep breath and gathered himself together before giving it another try.
"We rescued Rukia, but now there's an army right outside of the walls, and it's about to attack!" he repeated, with less volume but no less force.
"I see," Kuchiki replied, clearly not believing what he had just been told. Renji picked up on his Captain's skepticism and sagged.
"You don't believe a word of what I just said, do you?"
"When I see Rukia with my own eyes, I might give your words some more weight. Until then, no."
"If seeing me is all it will take, then here I am, Nii-sama."
Byakuya and Renji both turned to face the speaker, the Captain's eyes widening in shock as he saw Rukia standing a few paces in front of Ichigo Kurosaki, a relieved smile on her face.
"Rukia…?" Byakuya asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Rukia's smile grew wider.
"I'm home, Nii-sama."
Throwing decorum to the winds, Byakuya strode forward and pulled Rukia into a heartfelt embrace, the weight that had been over his heart since her abduction lifting at last. Rukia was taken aback initially by her brother's display of affection, but returned the embrace after a moment.
"I knew you would return," he whispered, the familial love Rukia had always known he had for her showing through in that precious moment.
"Always," she answered, hugging her brother tighter for a moment before letting go. Byakuya straightened up in an instant, his face as impassive as ever. He turned to Ichigo and Renji, an icy gleam in his eye.
"If either of you tell anyone about what you just saw, Senbonzakura will carve your faces from your skulls. Do you understand me?"
"Yes sir, Captain Kuchiki!" they both said in unison, saluting perfectly as Rukia fought hard to hold back a bout of laughter.
"Good," the Captain replied, turning his attention to Rukia. "Now, Rukia," he said, "tell me what happened to you."
Rukia laid everything out, including her attainment of bankai, which shocked all three men in the room. By the time she had gotten to the end of her story, Byakuya's look had changed completely, now suffused with pride at his sister's achievement but also furious at those who had put her through so much suffering. There was one detail, however, that he had trouble stomaching.
"So you say Saika Aron is alive? How can that be?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself, Nii-sama, but I can tell you without a shred of doubt that he is alive, and he's coming to aid us. He was the one who kept me safe all of this time and trained me to reach bankai, like I said."
"I heard you mention his name, Rukia," Byakuya replied, "I just could not bring myself to believe that Aron could still draw breath. No doubt there will be several people who will be most pleased to hear that news. But enough reminiscing; what is this about an army at our gates?"
Suddenly a thunderous crash reverberated throughout the Seireitei, and the four Soul Reapers rushed outside to see that one of the massive Gates had fallen, torn from its hinges.
"That's them," Ichigo said, shifting into bankai. "You ready?"
Renji nodded, calling out Zabimaru. Rukia unleashed her bankai as well, and Byakuya drew his sword, saying everything in his stance. The sound of the Gate falling had alerted the other Captains to the intruders, and one by one they appeared out of thin air. First came Soi Fong, accompanied by Yoruichi. Sajin Komamura was next, with Iba close behind. Urahara appeared moments later, much to the surprise of Ichigo.
"Hat-and-Clogs?!" he shouted, and Urahara grinned.
"Guess they just couldn't live without me," he said.
Nemu was the next to show, accompanied by Neliel. When the former Espada saw Ichigo, she gave him a huge smile and ran over, hugging him.
"Ichigo! It's so good to see you again!"
"Nel… can't… breathe…" Ichigo wheezed out, and Nel let go with an embarrassed look before using sonido to get away from a jealous-looking Rukia, returning to Nemu's side.
Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku were next, followed closely by their lieutenants. Shuhei Hisagi arrived wearing the haori of the Ninth Division, having finally accepted the position at the urging of his friends and superiors. Momo and Rangiku appeared looking nervous, upset that they hadn't been able to find Toshiro after the Gate had been breached and wondering where he could be. Izuru showed up next, hoping that he wasn't too late. At long last Kenpachi Zaraki charged through a nearby building's wall to join the crowd, an excited Yachiru at his shoulder.
"All right, would someone tell me what the hell is going on?" The Captain bellowed.
"Unwelcome visitors, Captain," Urahara said jovially. "They seem to have been kept waiting for so long that they decided to break down our door."
"Well, that's just poor manners, Ken-chan!" Yachiru chirped. "We should teach them a lesson!"
"Now you're talkin', kid," Zaraki said as he drew his zanpakuto, grinning like a madman.
"Soul Reapers!" A voice boomed through the air, enhanced by kido for maximum force. "Your end has come! I, the Greater Demon Tarsin, shall be your bane!"
"He's got a flair for the theatrical, this one," Yoruichi said, rolling her eyes. Evil thugs were all the same.
"Do not mock me, woman!" the voice shouted back. "I will be sure to make your end protracted and painful for your insolence! But enough of this talk. Attack, my warriors!"
At his command, a horde of demonic soldiers assembled before and around the fallen gate, murder in their eyes and reiatsu. A leader, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"So you'll send grunts to do your dirty work, but you're too cowardly to fight yourself? Pathetic!" Ichigo said, disgusted with whoever the demon was who called himself leader of this army.
"Hold your tongue, child," Tarsin's voice said harshly. "You will see the manifestation of my true powers presently. Raise the cry of the bloodlust, Araeas!"
As soon as the incantation was complete, the soldiers were covered in a dark orange aura, their strength tripling at once. Tarsin appeared at the head of his army in full demonic armor, laughing victoriously.
"This battle is over, Soul Reaper scum!"
Silence reigned in the brief moment before battle was joined, both sides tense. But before anyone could move to attack, the silence was broken by the sound of someone… laughing?
"Over? Did you say it was over, Tarsin?"
The demon lieutenant and the assembled Soul Reapers looked over at the source of the voice, and Tarsin's eyes went wide with fear while the Soul Reapers' expressions ranged from shock to stunned happiness.
"Aron…" Tarsin breathed, not believing what he saw in front of his eyes.
"Saika!?" Jushiro half-shouted, shocked by the sudden reappearance of the person he had thought of as his own son during Aron's time as an Officer and later as a Captain.
"Good to see you too, pops," Saika replied, flashing a wolfish grin to the stunned Captain.
"It's about time you showed up, sensei," Rukia said, glad that her teacher had stayed true to his word.
Zaraki smirked, knowing that he'd been right about his former rival.
"It's about time you showed up, mongrel," he said, using the nickname he knew Aron hated so much. Saika glared at the Eleventh Division Captain, giving him the finger.
"Fuck you, Tinkerbell."
Ichigo let out a spontaneous chuckle at Kenpachi's nickname, but a death-glare from Zaraki shut him up. Yoruichi didn't know quite how to feel about the sudden reappearance of her former lieutenant, but she found some small comfort in knowing that once they got out of this mess, there would be plenty of time to drill him for answers.
Tarsin was terrified by this sudden turn of events, but he tried hard not to show it. Summoning all of his bravado, he spoke to the former General.
"I see you came without your hounds, Aron. What, you finally grow a spine?"
"One, we really don't like it when people call us that," Grimmjow said, emerging from the shadows to Saika's left. "It really pisses us off."
"Two," Ulquiorra added as he emerged to Saika's right, "do you honestly think we'd miss the chance to destroy an entire legion of your soldiers?"
"Ulquiorra; Grimmjow," Saika said, turning his attention to his Captains, "deal with these maggots."
"With pleasure, Aron-sama," Ulquiorra said, drawing Carnefice and vanishing.
Grimmjow gave a huge, bloodthirsty grin, looking over at the demons like a panther stalking a wounded antelope.
"You guys are so fucked," he hissed gleefully, unsheathing Pantera before vanishing. As the two former Espada tore through the ranks of soldiers like trained warriors they were, Saika turned his attention to a now-visibly afraid Tarsin.
"You should be honored that your blood is worthy of being shed by my blade, Tarsin," the orange-eyed prince said, his voice laced with killing intent as he readied Oujiscuro for battle.
"This ends now."
Author's Note: Man, that took a while to write. Sorry for the wait; I hope you enjoyed it, and that there weren't any slow parts. Please review if you can, it's awesome to know that you're reading the story and like it (or dislike it) enough to tell me so. Hopefully there was a satisfying payoff in that chapter, and things will get even more intense next chapter now that everyone has reunited again. So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!